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Relativistic_wheels.gif (750 × 500 pixels, file size: 2.01 MB, MIME type: image/gif, looped, 100 frames, 4.0 s)
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Summary
| Description |
The speed of the center of a wheel is 0.9 c . The speed of the top of a wheel is 0.994 c while the speed of the bottom is always zero. This is why the top is contracted relative to the bottom (Fitzgerald contraction, a consequence of Einstein's special theory of relativity).
This animation is made with the assumption that the spokes of a wheel are much more elastic than its circumference. Otherwise there could be a rupture of the spokes or of the circumference. This is not an optical image (no eye or camera). The true position of a wheel is represented, in the referential of the ground (where the speed of the bottom of a wheel is zero). In the rest frame of the center of a wheel, wheels are circular and their spokes are straight and equidistant, but their circumference is contracted and exerts a pressure on the spokes, the contraction of the circumference is a purely relativistic effect (this shows that Fitzgerald contraction is a real effect, not a kind of illusion) but not the contraction of the spokes, because their speed is perpendicular to their length, their contraction is only an effect of pressure. |
| Date | |
| Source | Own work |
| Author | Thierry Dugnolle |
Licensing
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File history
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 07:55, 1 July 2020 | | 750 × 500 (2.01 MB) | Thierry Dugnolle | correction of a slight error |
| 11:08, 6 June 2020 |  | 750 × 500 (2.1 MB) | Thierry Dugnolle | Uploaded own work with UploadWizard |
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